The Ship Model Forum

I working with the BOGP's for the USS Ranger CV-61 that I purchased from Floating Drydock. My ultimate goal is to build the USS Independence CV-62, circa 1960. I search around quite abit for drawings of the Independence but I haven't come across any. I scanned the drawings at Kinkos so I could work with them in Photoshop. After reveiwing the plans I noticed that many of the drawings are not "square".

So I did my best to straighten them out but I have instances were the drawings are not to scale, the baseline of the ship along the horizontal dips and a few other anomalies. I want to make my own set of plans. I have the frame numbers, which I can use along the base line, but I don't have anykind of reference in any other direction. I wanted to know if anyone has any expeirence working with BOGP's and what is the best way to "fair" these drawings back into shape?

I have another question along the same lines as my original post. In the sample image I attached I can see frame numbers marked along the x-axis or center line of the ship. I know from the ship specs that 247.5 frames equals 990 feet so each frame is 4 feet apart. Thus 5 frames would be 20 feet, 10 frames would be 40 feet and so on. But along the y-axis or vertical to the drawing I don�t have any frames. What techniques have some of you use to determine the distances in the y-direction?

You know the scale of the plans, right? Measure the part on the plan that you want, and multiply it by scale. This will give you the size in real life. You can then scale it back down to your desired scale by dividing the real life size by that scale.

What if the drawings are not to scale. A lot of stretching and folding has occured over the years. The scale on the drawings is 1/16". On that knowledge measuring the drawing between the AP and FP, 247.5 frames or 990 feet should measure 61.875 inches. It actually measure about 62.38 inches. So either it wasn't drawn to scale or it has been stretched over time. I guess as long as everything is proportional it would be ok to use some tracing paper or a compass and measure off the frames from the existing tick marks and generate a measuring line running in the y-axis.

hi ,

caution : it happened sometimes that the frames were not spaced even on the keel , so your calculation about so many frames on a certain distance could be wrong ...

you'd first check this ...

Regards ,

Laurent

Laurent, you're right thats possible.

The rule I remember from my drafting days: is never scale the drawing! In this case however, I don't have much of an option. From the ships specs I know the overall length of the ship, the distance between AP and FP, the width or beam across the flight deck and the distance from the base line (keel) to the flight deck. From this I infer that the frames are equally spaced.

Also, I can create a virtual box with those basic dimensions and reduce the drawings proportionately to fit. I think I'll be ok to do that as long as the orginal documents were drawn to scale.

Thanks everyone for your help!

US Navy Carriers, Cruisers and Battleships had a frame spacing that is typically 48". These are evenly spaced between the FP and the AP.
I worked as a Naval Architect Tech. at LBNSY and one of the first thing I leared was to never scale off of a drawing, always use a known dimension. Of course I usually had the real ship at my disposal to take measurements from if required and usually, I made sure it was required
But in absense of the real ship and the required dimensions, I would have to scale off of the drawing.

I would say that your CV-61 drawing has stretched a bit when it was copied and I am willing to bet that your copy is at least 3rd generation, there is not much you can do about this and there is no blame to point out in this circumstance, work with what you got and in some cases your going to have to make a calculated guess.

What scale are you building your Ranger in?

I have settled on 1/350th which will give me a nice size model. I haven't actually started construction yet, just been gathering information and studing the drawings I have. I know the Ranger is not the Independence but the ships lines should be pretty close. I am planing to build the Independence in her 1960 configuration when she still had her 5 inch guns. The hull lines or stations I have don't cover the bow very well only up to frame 13 so everything forward of that frame is going to require some educated guesses. I'll have to do some guess work with the decks and there heights above the baseline.

Navarone
Depending on the shop, prints copied can vary on their X-Y axis with each copy different, on the same printer, from the same original. I started out with an original, did a reduction to 1/30 from 1/24 scale, & noticed when I held them up to the light that they did not match up with each other, or the orig one.
I now pay a $1 or 2 extra but it is computer controlled# & I can now scale off of a drawing, if I want.
# Plus I can get the drawing on a disk to view it.
Printing from my computer I will try poster print I guess

I took the drawings down to my local Kinkos and had them scanned. I can view the drawings in Photoshop. What I have discovered is that there is more then just stretching going on. The drawings seem to be bent in some cases, if I place a guide along the base line the base line dips in the middle. So a lot has been going on with these drawings over time. I think in the long run the amount of distance I might be off will not be that appearant at 1/350th.

Scale Shipyard / W.L.U. wrote:US Navy Carriers, Cruisers and Battleships had a frame spacing that is typically 48". These are evenly spaced between the FP and the AP.
I worked as a Naval Architect Tech. at LBNSY and one of the first thing I leared was to never scale off of a drawing, always use a known dimension. Of course I usually had the real ship at my disposal to take measurements from if required and usually, I made sure it was required
But in absense of the real ship and the required dimensions, I would have to scale off of the drawing.

Scale Shipyard, you say you worked as a Naval Architect. What can you tell me about the deck spacing on super carriers like the Ranger. Were the decks spaced evenly like the frames or was there more variation in the deck spacing. I was trying to determine the deck spacing to help me develope the hull lines.

Deck spacing can vary from one ship class to another , I mainly worked battleships and their deck spacing was 7'-6", but this also varied do to the space requirements for equipment. The distance from the second deck to the third deck was considerably greater.

I do not have all the deck heights for the Ranger, except that her deck heights for the island are 7'-6", I just checked my CV-61 booklet, it only states the spacing for the island with the 010 level 144 feet above base line. I cannot find the other deck heights